by Marcy Heller
There’s a beautiful metaphor from Jay Shetty’s book, ‘Think Like a Monk’, he writes, “IS THIS DUST OR IS IT ME? We are in a storeroom, lined with unused books and boxes full of artifacts. Unlike the rest of the ashram, which is always tidy and well swept, this place is dusty and draped in cobwebs. The senior monk leads me up to a mirror and says, “What can you see?” Through the thick layer of dust, I can’t even see my reflection. I say as much, and the monk nods. Then he wipes the arm of his robe across the glass. A cloud of dust puffs into my face, stinging my eyes and filling my throat. He says, “Your identity is a mirror covered with dust. When you first look in the mirror, the truth of who you are and what you value is obscured. Clearing it may not be pleasant, but only when that dust is gone can you see your true reflection. This was a practical demonstration of the words of Chaitanya, a sixteenth-century Bengali Hindu saint. Chaitanya called this state of affairs ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, or clearance of the impure mirror of the mind.”
Continuing to ascend on our path of the 2022-2030’s Great Transformation, a year like no other, we are being shown through many syncronicities and life experiences, not to mention pain, how to heal ourselves from the inside out. This is where we can work to overcome the illnesses of the soul that has infected us and weakened us up until now. And, in order to do that, we must keep letting go of our old programming that has kept us from becoming alive and more excited with our SELVES.
It’s essential for our survival and well-being to now recognize that we are living through an extraordinary time in human evolution. Even though there are unprecedented challenges and social changes, we are being given the unique opportunity to move forward and create new ways of thinking of ourselves, and, as I have written before, to experience ourselves in new ways. All the while discovering the brilliant gold mine of resources that are available to us.
Moreover, now more than ever, everything that has been a lie is coming up to be reckoned in a way for us to take back our power and become more authentic. Up until now, the desire for self-empowerment hasn’t always been our first priority. Now it is not an option, but it is mandatory since our old ways of solving our life issues no longer works! Everything is energy and course-correcting our lives and the decisions we make can be compared to ‘power currency.’ In other words, when having to choose anything, ask yourself, will this dis-empower me? or will it empower me? Now it’s time to start using the power of your Big NO…NO, thank you.. No way. No more. Not right now. Never again. Not anymore. What becomes possible when you say NO? Just NO! What would open up? Shift. Lighten. Crumble Dissolve. Melt!
Learning to love ourselves and create healthy boundaries for our own empowerment is not a coincidence. It is directly being orchestrated to direct us to discover how truly powerful we are. What’s more it is happening for all of us to validate that we are all part of the same cosmic soul. As my favorite mantra from Mary Magdalene, “My Heart is your Heart. Your. Heart is my Heart. Our Hearts are One.”
Ascension is not about self-improvement or changing our status. Ascension means becoming awakened to another way of seeing and being. Becoming our true selves. A different person in and without! To wake up and know that we are indeed magnificent! As Michael Meade wrote, “Often enough it seems better to cling to a familiar pain than suffer a genuine change of state. Even when life begins to feel like a trap and the pain becomes undeniable, the monkey-minded little self will not simply let go.”
In the past we would stay in chaos or pain, rather than be our true selves. Especially since one of the greatest challenges we face in life is the fear of change. For change to happen we have to let go of what doesn’t work and keeps us trapped in the prison of our minds. I promise you, the more you become who you are, the more all the parts of you who aren’t you will fall away. What’s more, everything now that we lived as a lie is coming up to heal!
I have always avoided confrontation. In the past, speaking up was not an option. Until I realized what I felt was fair and just outweighed my discomfort for becoming my own advocate. Taking back my power and asking for what I felt was right. Now, knowing that this was my addiction, I am shedding parts of myself that I didn’t even know there were there. I am still grieving that part of me that had to get love from my external connections. To paraphrase Kyle Cease, who wrote the book,’I Hope I Screw Things Up’, “It is easy to recognize an addiction related to drugs, alcohol or food, but an addiction to getting approval from the outside world is a lot tougher to see. Especially when we all had been trained to do this from birth. An addiction is anything that we do that stops us from connecting from ourself.“ Now, I have to keep refreshing my memory and remember as the poet Hafiz quoted, “I wish I could show you…the astonishing Light of your own being.”
Up until now to fit in I thought I had to be what people expected. Constantly navigating between the need to express myself and the need to avoid seeming too far out there. I now have a new perspective. I can’t suppress what I AM so I can be accepted, recognized or appreciated. We are not better because we have an expanded awareness. We are simply aligned with a different frequency. Just like tuning into a different dial on a radio. Our knowing is simply an experience that changes us from the inside out, influencing the way we continue to show up in the world and reserve our sacred place within it. So even though I don’t know who to give the credit to for these words awakening is for me the most profound and sacred journey that once you are on there’s no going back! My mantra is: keep moving. Keep moving. Keep moving. Trusting the Universe. And, I do.
When we become the observer, the witness of our minds, whatever our intention is in that moment, we can change and up-level into something or someone even greater. We are at the precipice of a huge quantum leap and since there is strength in numbers, the more of us who are awake and conscious on this journey of self-healing, the more we can elevate not only our individual vibration but the collective’s as well. As we keep digging deeper, the shadow has no more room to hide. In feeling all the sadness, grief and disappointment, we can begin to let it go so the beauty, awesomeness and joy of being alive can come up and spread its sunshine all over the place!
The past is history. Don’t look back – that is not the direction you are going in! We have never lived a time like this. As we take back our power, we can all be so proud that we are standing up, becoming more authentic, showing up and revealing our souls! When we anchor our Light in these shadowy times it is one of the most profound things we can do, so we can keep reflecting the Light from one other. Moreover, our desire to seek new and different ways for empowerment has far deeper roots than personal development.
When we awaken to who we truly are, our experiences give rise to a new level. We are at our best and the universe mirrors that energy completely and helps us to expand the circle to encompass all of the world and beyond. Remembering too that if we are not resonating with more love, we are resonating with fear. And the action of fear is to create more fear!
My prayer for all of us is that we continue to experience the splendor of an extraordinary life filled with infinitely more health, joy, peace, love, abundance, prosperity, courage, resilience, faith, hope and grace. May we continue to know and access the depth of our Divine Power and continue to puff it forward to create a magnificent, benevolent Universe that plays for all of us! As William Henley wrote, “I am the master of my Fate, I am the captain of my Soul.”
